Wireless survey: 91% of Americans use cell phones

The US wireless industry is still growing, as over 90 percent of Americans are …

As the CTIA kicked off its annual conference in Las Vegas yesterday, it also released the results of its semiannual US wireless industry survey for the last half of 2009. Even in the face of the largest economic recession since the Great Depression, results show that the wireless industry continues to grow as a vast majority of the US population is using a mobile phone.

The survey of wireless carriers revealed that over 285 million Americans are mobile subscribers, about 91 percent of the total population. That's up 15 million over the same time last year, and growth has slowed somewhat due to market saturation. Those 285 million callers used 1.12 trillion minutes of talk time in the last half of 2009, up 3.4 percent of the same period in 2008. That breaks down to an average of 6.1 billion minutes used per day, or about 21 minutes per person per day.

Wireless service revenues totaled $77 billion for the last half of the year, up slightly from last year. But the real growth is coming from wireless data services—mobile Web, text messages, and other non-voice services. In the latter half of last year, revenue for wireless data service totaled over $22 billion, nearly a third of overall wireless services revenue and up 26 percent year-over-year.

The survey revealed that 257 million "data-capable" devices are active on US carriers' networks. However, roughly 50 million of those are smartphones capable of more advanced wireless services than SMS, MMS, and WAP browsing. Another 12 million are 3G-enabled laptops. Those devices are responsible for the majority of data service revenues.

"With wireless connections now equal to more than 91 percent of the U.S. population, mobile broadband is pivotal to ensuring all Americans are 'digitally literate,'" Steve Largent, president and CEO of CTIA, said in a statement. "Mobile broadband will increasingly play a vital role in people’s lives."

CTIA didn't reveal specific numbers on data use, but it did reveal that Americans traded 822 billion text messages—5 billion per day—for the second half of 2009, and over 1.5 trillion for the whole year. MMS messaging is more than double year-over-year for the last half of 2009, with 24.2 billion photos, videos, and audio clips moving from one mobile phone to another in just six months.

During a keynote presentation at the CTIA conference yesterday, AT&T Mobility CEO and current CTIA chairman Ralph de la Vega also said that the US is tops globally in a number of categories, including number of 3G subscribers, number of smartphones activated, and number of mobile applications purchased.

I am still one of the few people who have yet to own a cell phone, as well-acquainted with technology as I am. I am waiting how the mobile sphere evolves between now and the end of this year before I purchase my first cell phone.

At this point, just about everyone who wants a cell phone has one already. Now companies have to fight for customers and getting someone to switch from one company to another is still quite a hassle sometimes. Plus, if you paid a good amount for your previous phone, it's basically useless if you take it to another carrier (which is almost criminal these days).

Sigh, I wait for the day of 100% interoperability of phones between carriers like in Europe...

Was any data presented on shifting ratios between pre-paid vs. post-paid? My impression is that pre-paid is cannibalizing post-paid, but if data service revenues are growing as described in the article, then perhaps this is not the case.

XX55XX, if you've waited this long, and you don't have a compelling reason to get one, I'd wait as long as I could stand it or buy a cheap prepaid. Smartphones are going through a big shakedown. The iPhone 3GS was released last June. The Droid/Milestone came out in November, with comparable processor but waaaaaay better screen, followed a couple of months later by the Nexus One. The next round of phones (like the Sprint HTC phone with WiMAX) is due out later this year. It's a time of great fluidity.

I bought a Droid in November because I couldn't function without a smartphone at work, and I've stayed on the bleeding edge of its tech (overclocking, etc.), but it's already a dated phone when you compare it to the hot stuff coming down the pipe. It's like the late 90s/early 2000s in desktop tech - there's an enormous increase in power with every generation, and we've already figured out how to use that power, so as soon as you get it you notice the difference. Now? Not nearly as important. Phones are taking a huge leap forward, and you might want to let them finish jumping.

Now? Not nearly as important. Phones are taking a huge leap forward, and you might want to let them finish jumping.

I'm assuming you're still speaking to the person who doesn't care for cell phones at all, let alone smartphones But in that case, they wouldn't care to wait or not wait. But I still have to disagree anyway, because smartphones still have so much potential to be a computer that happens to fit in your pocket.

Was any data presented on shifting ratios between pre-paid vs. post-paid? My impression is that pre-paid is cannibalizing post-paid, but if data service revenues are growing as described in the article, then perhaps this is not the case.

I don't know about the other carriers, but AT&T offers add-on data packages to both of their pre-paid options. I got on their awful pre-paid setup when I moved to a land that T-Mobile doesn't serve and snagged the $19.95/unlimited data ripoff. They don't offer it anymore but have smaller packages for less money.

Allegedly reportedly if I were to upgrade to a 3G device the pre-paid data would also include 3G access. But I'll give up my w810i when someone pries it out of my cold chubby fingers. Even with EDGE that's slower than T-Mobile's GPRS, I still manage quite a few megabytes a month of access.

No cell phone here. If I'm not where I can be reached via a land line I'm somewhere I don't want to be called. That's not to say there aren't rare occasions where it would have been handy, but so far nothing that warrants paying the outrageous monthly fees.

I am still one of the few people who have yet to own a cell phone, as well-acquainted with technology as I am. I am waiting how the mobile sphere evolves between now and the end of this year before I purchase my first cell phone.

My wife didn't get one until 2007, so not too far from your situation. Of course, she was in college and didn't have much use for one for a long time as she was studying like crazy and didn't have time for a social life. My, how things have changed!

We don't have a home phone and rely solely on our cell phones. It's amazing to me how many companies/government offices still ask for a "home phone" number on paper forms or web forms. I always think to myself, "who in the hell still has a home phone?! (Or better yet, WHY?)"

I am still one of the few people who have yet to own a cell phone, as well-acquainted with technology as I am. I am waiting how the mobile sphere evolves between now and the end of this year before I purchase my first cell phone.

My wife didn't get one until 2007, so not too far from your situation. Of course, she was in college and didn't have much use for one for a long time as she was studying like crazy and didn't have time for a social life. My, how things have changed!

We don't have a home phone and rely solely on our cell phones. It's amazing to me how many companies/government offices still ask for a "home phone" number on paper forms or web forms. I always think to myself, "who in the hell still has a home phone?! (Or better yet, WHY?)"

Re-read Thraxen's post for the 'WHY' part: some of us would prefer not to pay lots of money for the 'benefit' of being interrupted whenever someone else wants our attention. I've got a cell phone for a number of reasons, but I'd drop it for a land line in a second if I could make that work.

I am still one of the few people who have yet to own a cell phone, as well-acquainted with technology as I am. I am waiting how the mobile sphere evolves between now and the end of this year before I purchase my first cell phone.

My wife didn't get one until 2007, so not too far from your situation. Of course, she was in college and didn't have much use for one for a long time as she was studying like crazy and didn't have time for a social life. My, how things have changed!

We don't have a home phone and rely solely on our cell phones. It's amazing to me how many companies/government offices still ask for a "home phone" number on paper forms or web forms. I always think to myself, "who in the hell still has a home phone?! (Or better yet, WHY?)"

Re-read Thraxen's post for the 'WHY' part: some of us would prefer not to pay lots of money for the 'benefit' of being interrupted whenever someone else wants our attention. I've got a cell phone for a number of reasons, but I'd drop it for a land line in a second if I could make that work.

Switch nouns around and your argument could apply to a landline. Why pay "lots of money for the 'benefit' of being interrupted whenever someone else wants our attention.".

I am still one of the few people who have yet to own a cell phone, as well-acquainted with technology as I am. I am waiting how the mobile sphere evolves between now and the end of this year before I purchase my first cell phone.

My wife didn't get one until 2007, so not too far from your situation. Of course, she was in college and didn't have much use for one for a long time as she was studying like crazy and didn't have time for a social life. My, how things have changed!

We don't have a home phone and rely solely on our cell phones. It's amazing to me how many companies/government offices still ask for a "home phone" number on paper forms or web forms. I always think to myself, "who in the hell still has a home phone?! (Or better yet, WHY?)"

Re-read Thraxen's post for the 'WHY' part: some of us would prefer not to pay lots of money for the 'benefit' of being interrupted whenever someone else wants our attention. I've got a cell phone for a number of reasons, but I'd drop it for a land line in a second if I could make that work.

Switch nouns around and your argument could apply to a landline. Why pay "lots of money for the 'benefit' of being interrupted whenever someone else wants our attention.".

Indeed, you are correct, but that doesn't give a reason why someone would want to have a home phone, which is the question I was providing an answer to: a home phone can be cheaper, and less intrusive than, a cell phone.

Indeed, you are correct, but that doesn't give a reason why someone would want to have a home phone, which is the question I was providing an answer to: a home phone can be cheaper, and less intrusive than, a cell phone.

This. I've got no interest in being called while I'm driving, out for an evening, shopping, etc... You can reach me when I'm at home or at work... on a land line. I had a cell phone briefly when I got married because we just added a line to my wife's account. I never used it though. We would get the bill at the end of the month and my usage would always be less than 30 minutes for the entire month. Hell, half the time I just left it home because I didn't want to be called while I was out. So I eventually just dropped the line and have never regretted it for a minute.

Yes, you can say that people can use a land line to reach me when I don't want to be called... that's certainly true though, frankly, you're lucky if I do bother to answer my home phone. But it's not nearly as intrusive as a cell phone. And before you say I can just leave it home or turn it off, I noted above I often did exactly that. But then I got annoyed by people contstantly asking why I didn't have it with me. People are so used to having their phones practically physically attached to their bodies that the notion that I didn't carry mine bewildered them.

I personally love gadgets. My house is likely as full of them as most people here, but I really hate cell phones. In my own personal experience the drawbacks have never outweighed the benefits. I do understand that lots of people love the constant connectivity they offer and many depend on them for their work, but so far I've not found myself in either of those positions.

I just turn my phone off when I don't want to be bothered typically. Other than that the benefit for me to have a phone I can use anywhere (now with Internet...thanks Droid I love you) outweighs having a home phone, so why pay for both?

My Verizon bill is $80/mo. for my wife and I on a Family Shared Plan. We never go over our minutes so that's what we pay.

It's all personal preference, I guess. Those of you holding out on the cell phone: I understand why. My wife did the same thing up until 2007.

My Verizon bill is $80/mo. for my wife and I on a Family Shared Plan. We never go over our minutes so that's what we pay..

My wife's bill is larger than that by herself, but she has an iPhone and a data plan. If I had a cell phone I'd definitely have to get a data plan because I'd be more interested in that than the actual voice communication. But as of right now it's just not worth the expense. And, frankly, I'm more frustrated with my data experiences on phones than anything. The browsers and data rates, to this point, feel painfully slow. Almost like dealing with dial-up compared to the speeds I get on my home computer. Just not an experience I feel like paying telcos even more money to have. Some day i may break down and finally get one, but I'm not there yet.

I am glad to see that there are other technologically savvy people who are eschewing cell phones.

I turn the ringer off and my telephone becomes just an object in the room. It requires no attention. It never interrupts...meals, dates, important projects, reading, and etc. It is a tried and true friend that works when the power is out and everything else in civilization has crashed. It has its function and fulfills it magnificently.

Plus, there are no annoying texts to read or "cute" pictures to receive. I don't have to worry about jail-breaking, apps, coverage, plans, losing it (and subsequently every piece of precious data stored within it), replacing it, having it stolen, overages, roll over minutes, dead zones, and etc.

I always think to myself, "who in the hell still has a home phone?! (Or better yet, WHY?)"

Because buying my internet and phone through one provider is cheaper than buying naked internet+cell phone, and because I don't want to have an electronic leash? And because cell reception around town is crap?I seriously hate how cell phones can become a leash to offices. Yeah for some professions it's useful (doctors) but lots of the time it becomes a "we own your ass 24/7" thing, at least from what I've seen. I've got a friend with a job like that, and I wouldn't do it for any money. Screw that. And on a personal level...I dunno, maybe if we're in the midst of a crisis (relative dying in hospice,say) I'd want someone to be able to get ahold of me no matter what, but generally, no. And given that, why pay extra for the cell phones portability?